Help - advice needed

So I have been working like a mad woman in the past week but I promise to be better at blogging once the trimester wraps! And my mom has been in the hospital with back issues. And even though I have been trying to finish this list for a week, it will get up today!

I am struggling with a few small decisions that I thought I had made but I need some more thoughts to really make my choices concrete. Share what you think!

1. What to serve for lunch at P's bday party? We have planned to do sandwiches - meat tray, cheese, toppings, buns, you do the work. The party is thus Sunday so we may be set on the sandwiches but what about sides? Appetizers?

2. Food/milk - I am weaning off the pump soon (yeah!) and have a good freezer stash for the month at least. I will be waiting until her one year check to make the transition to WCM but it will be soon. My bigger issue is with food. I think we have a vegetarian on our hands. P will not have anything to do with meat or much new really. She loves all fruits and vegetables, beans are good, and yogurt is yummy. Cheese, chicken (even in a purée, against my better judgement), ground beef, and gnocchi have been fails. Any suggestions? We will continue to try!

3. Kitchen reorganize - hopefully this will be the big project over my spring break. I am (sadly) excited about this. I have a whole pinterest board devoted to it. Any suggestions that are out there, I am looking for plenty of ideas!

4. Joining a gym. I am doing the Susan G Komen 3 day thus summer. It is a 60 mile walk over the course of 3 days. It is a great experience (I did Chicago in 2009). I need to start training soon! Unfortunately, I can't walk in any weather with P. I will have some treadmill training n my future. Do I join the Y again since they ave a great pool and possibly programs for P or the community center that is cheaper but smaller and less convenient in the summer?

Decisions, decisions! Help a girl out!

Milestone Monday

I had a rough weekend. Friday I came home from work (and Yagoot with friends) tired. But this asnt normal end of the week, I'm ready for the weekend tired. I was exhausted. I lulled out P's toys, a blanket and pillow for me, and laid down while she played around me. J came home and I even asked him to feed her dinner so I could lay down. At this point I thought that the past few months of school, P, basketball, holidays, life, etc had just caught up to me. J was a dream and took P for the evening. I pumped and basically went to bed at 8:30.

The next thing I know, it is past midnight and I am up and headed for the bathroom. I got sick but was able to go back to bed. Saturday was a lot if sleeping. J again rocked the house and managed P all day. We were supposed to have had a date night so my parents had her for a part of the evening too.I ate a little on Saturday but didn't drink enough By Sunday morning I was getting back to normal - thankfully. The grocery store trip wore me out so that was the extent of our day.

I survived my first sick parent weekend. FX P doesn't get this!

In good milestones:
-P is officially a crawler. J got the first show last Wednesday when I was out with the girls. She has been getting more brave about venturing around. Fun and scary all at the same time!
- We have graduated P to the convertible car seats. I think she may still have another pound to go but that carrier is heavy. Tomorrow will be the first day in the new seats. Wish us luck!

Here is one of the 11 month shots that I promised in my last post:

Seriously - 11 months!!!

I have been talking about P's birthday party for a while now and things are moving along with that, but I think that it now hitting me that she will be 1 year old soon! Like a month soon! Holy cow! Here are the details:

Age: 11 month :O

Stats: She is getting close to 22lbs. We are watching relatively closely since that will be the number where we will move car seats (already purchased)!

Size (diapers, onesies, etc.): We are solidly in size 3 diapers and 12 month clothes. She does have a few 9 month items that fit and some 18 month pants that are oddly small. I am hoping that we can stay here size wise until the warm weather (really warm, not this crap winter) comes.

Sleeping: This is going well at night. She gets a solid 11 hours. Naps are another story. Some days two good one hour plus naps. Some days one good 2 hour nap. Other days, well, who knows. I think that she will be a one nap a day girl soon.

Eating: Still BF. Well, pumping mostly. I nurse her a few times each weekend but during the week it works better to just pump. I am SOOOOOO excited to be finished in 29 days (but who's counting).
Solid food is going well too. She has gobble up everything we have tried. She is still mainly on purees, but I have started to make them chunkier. The big milestone here is I am back on a totally NORMAL diet! Yeah! P has even had yogurt. She was not a fan the first two times we tried but is on board now. Since I have been making all her other food, I am considering a yogurt cooker. Any thoughts here would be great!

Milestones: We finally have a crawler! Literally this past Wednesday, I went out with my girlfriends and she crawled for J. She has been rolling with intent for a while but he got real, all four crawling.
We are starting to work on identifying things, like her nose (which she puts a finger in instead of on, but she knows where it is) and I would like to do more signs. We will get there!

Favorite toys/activities: She loves her toys, especially if she can pull things in and out. Favorites are her picnic basket and purse. I have always amused her by putting things on my head, she now mimics me. She also loves her blanket. The fuzzier the better!
Bath time with daddy is a BLAST! She loves to splash and have water poured on her head!

I will add her pictures soon but we have to take them. To be honest that probably won't be until tomorrow but I will get them up.

The big 1 - here we come!!!

PYHO: most recent Mommy guilt trip

So I am 30 days from P's first birthday. This means 30 more days of breastfeeding. 30 more days of pumping - lugging it to work, hiding out during lunch, clean parts at least 3 times a day, and wearing that sexy hands free bra!

I feel like I should be sad but I am so excited. I ave a countdown app for her birthday but every time I open it, I think about not BF anymore. I have truly enjoyed BF. I feel very connected with P. I know that I am providing her with the most nutritionally sound diet out there but it has been hard. We went milk and soy free in early June. For the record, soy is in EVERYTHING! I got back soy just after Thanksgiving. We have been lucky to get back milk last week too.

AF joined the party in December, which screwed with my supply. It hasn't been the same since. Luckily, I have been able to stay ahead of her and still have a freezer stash that will take us well sat a year, but it's hard.

I am for whatever you want to do with your kid, so long as you live and feed them. BF was very important to me but I am ready to be done. Should I feel guilty that I am ready to finish? I don't think I should but I do!

First birthday party!

I am getting so excited for P's first birthday. Here are the details that we have worked out.

A friend helped me design the invites. They included this elephant:


Then I made a banner for her high chair:


This is happy part of the happy birthday bunting I made:


We will be having cupcakes and I made these for the cupcakes:




This is a family only event but I want there to be a few items that commemorate the event. More for me and pictures than anything but she's worth it!

Look at my new....

Furnace :/

This is a good and bad thing all at the same time. We are getting a new furnace today. It will be great because we are also getting a new humidifier and air cleaner so the quality of air in our house will be better and we should see some savings in our monthly gas bills since the furnace is a high efficiency. But no one wants to spend money on a furnace.

It's not fun to show off or talk about but necessary. I'll let you know how much better things are next week!

Kitchen organization

This is the next big project! I am on Pinterest so I will be pinning a lot of ideas. I will need to make a trip to organized living for sure (I am giddy)!

Does anyone have any suggestions on what to definitely do? Or not do?

Good and Bad today

Here are the things running through my head now (when I should be grading so I can enjoy my weekend):

Good:
- I have a fabulous life. I love my husband and he loves me. P is great and healthy! I love my job and I have great friends and family around me.
- I am back into full dairy. I am really looking forward to some good pizza!
- I am going to Yagoot with a friend soon! (Today if the weather holds)
- I ordered P's bday invites today! Let the real planning begin!
- Fundraising for the 3 Day is incredible!!!

Bad:
- I have a crap ton of grading to do.
- It is starting to snow and I want to go to Yagoot and need to go to the grocery (with P).
- P has a bad diaper rash and super stuffy nose. I am hoping they are both due to teething but we will see!
- It is supposed to snow starting soon and go overnight. It is not a weekend AND I have basketball tomorrow that I was hoping J and P would be able to come to. Boo bad weather on the weekends!

Overall, the bad isn't so bad and the good is great. I can't wait to write about my plans for P's party. I have been obsessing!

Wordless Wednesday - playtime!

I hope you enjoyed the cuteness - I do everyday!

Sorry I've been gone

Another busy week! Things are winding down with basketball. We are in the last week of regular season and other than the games we host for the tourney, I will be down to only 2 games per week. I am sad for the season to be ending though - we have a great bunch of girls.

Just as an update, I am going to be purchasing Photoshop to design and sell cards and invites. I caught the bug when a friend of mine helped me put together P's bday invites. I had looked around Etsy (a great place to shop for practically everything) but couldn't find exactly what I wanted for a reasonable cost (not just the invites but including the banners, thank yous, and decor). I really love what we came up with - so I will be leaning first then looking to sell!

In food news, I am getting milk back. I started with regular bread. No issues, so I started with a little cheese. No issues. Now I am using regular milk in my cereal and am going to have yogurt - I have really missed yogurt! I am also looking forward to giving P yogurt and cheese too! My stomach has been a little more bubbly but not too bad.

I have been reading my regular blogs - I know I haven't been commenting but I am here. And will be around more in the days to come!